Engine-cooling system



L. P. BARLOW ENGINE COOLING SYSTEM Feb. 28, 1928.

ruling gwuwtov [arm A0 194m 0 Patented Feb. 28, 1928.

" UNITED STATES LESTER P. BARLOW, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN.

ENGINE-COOLING SYSTEM.

Original application filed December 30, 1926, Serial No."157,900. Divided and this application filed May 28,

1927. Serial 110,194,873. 1

In my copending application Serial No. 157,900, filed December 30, 1926, Patent No. 1,632,582, granted June 1 1, 1927, and of which this present application is a division,

5 I disclose and claim an internal combustion engine vapor cooling system in which the cooling liquids are automatically supplied tothe cylinder jackets of the engineby utilizing a portion of the suction produced by the engine during the operation thereof to compensate for the liquids going off as.

steam in said jackets and thus avoid the use of-force pumps, gears, shafts, etc., for forcing the liquids through the jackets, as in steam or vapor cooling systems heretofore designed. I v

The present application has reference to means whereby the vacuum tank may be vented either to the atmosphere or to the steam side of the system. When the tank is vented to the atmosphere,the system Wlll take care of'th'e usual IUIlIllIl-g'COIlClltlOIIS of the motor; whereas, when open through the steam side of the system, the pressure 'in the tank will be the same as that in the steam side of the system and thus offset the tendency of thebuilding up of pressure in the system when the motor is operating under heavy load to interfere with the proper supply of cooling liquids to the cylinder ackets through the vacuum tank, as hereinafter more fully pointed out. e I

The invention consists further in the matters hereinafter described and claimed.

, In the accompanying drawings,

'Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic view of an internalcombustion engine having a vapor or steam cooling system embodying a neutralizing fitting of my'i'nvention; and

0 Fig. 2 is; an enlarged vertical sectional view through the vacuum lift tank of thesystem and showing in detail theneutralizing fitting. V

In Fig. 1, 1 indicates an internal combustion engine of the suction and compression type, as employed on motor vehicles, and having a water jacket 2 about thecylinders thereof. A steam dome 3 is connected with the jacket 2 and extends above the normal level a of the liquids therein.

Associated with the engine is a condenser {1, which may be inthe form of the usual automobile radiator with its upper and lower tanks 5, 6 and its interposed core The reservoir 8 is located below the water jacket 2 and is connected by a conduit 9 with the lower tank 6 of the condenser, so as to convey the condensate from the condenser into the reservoir. This lower tank 6 is provided with a vent 10 open to the atmosphere so that any air in the condensers may escape as the steam enters the same. The reservoir 8 is provided with a fillerneck 11, normally closedby a cap in which is a vent 12, also open to the atmosphere.

A second tank 13 is located above the reservoir 8 and is so positioned with respect to the'dome 3 that the tank 13 extends above and] below the water level a in the dome. A conduit ld'connects the bottom of the reservoir 8 with the portion of the tank 13 above the liquid level a therein, while a conduit" 15 connects the bottom of the tank 13 with the liquid intake 16 of thejacket 2, such intake being preferably at'the lower portion of the jacket, as shown in Fig. 1. A check valve 17 is located in the conduit 15 to prcvent suction in'the tank 13 from withdrawing Water from the jacket2 during the operation of the system.

As shown in Fig. 2, the top wall of the tank 13 is provided with a valve housing 18 having oppositely disposed ports 19, 20, the former being connected by conduit 21 with the suction side of the motoror engine 1 in the particular assembly shown in Fig. 1. This isaccomplished by connecting the conduit 21 with the fuel intake manifold or conduit 22 of the engine so that there will,

always be a suction on this conduit regardlessof the position of the throttle valve (not shown) of the carbureter 23.

, The housing 18 is provided with a chamber 24 connecting the ports 19, 20 with the interior of the tank 13. An endwise movable plug valve 25 is located in this chamber so. as to intermittently open and close the ports 19, 20. Depending from the housing'18 is a bracket 26 to the lower end of which is pivoted a trigger lever 27 having aslight plunger 28 between a-flange thereon and the outer end of the socketed member 29 to constantly urge orforce the plunger against the trigger 27. 1A float 32 is located in the tank, and is suspended from the plunger 28 forward of the spring 31 by a rod 33, which has a slight lost motion connect-ion (pin and slot) with the plunger 28, as shown.

By the fitting of my invention, to be presently. described, the port-20 may vent the tank 13 either to the atmosphere or to the steam line 7. In either case, the tank 13 is opened through this vent in the rising and falling of the float 32. The valve j is moved back and forth to intermittently open and close the ports 19, 20. When the port 19 is op'en,fsuction is created in the tank by the engine andserves to lift water into said tank from the reservoir 8. The latter has a size or capacity'sulficienttohold a rela tively large body of water so as to aid in reducing-the heat of the condensate entering the reservoir from the condenser and thus permit liquids to be drawn from the reservoir to the tank 13 at a higher level by suction. The large body of water held by the reservoir 8 also allows forthe make up of the loss of liquid from the system by natural evaporation. i

The water entering the tank 13 raises the float 32 and, when the maximum level is reached in the tank, the valve- 25 is moved uickly to close the suction port 19 and open tic vent 20, thereby allowing the water in the tank to flow by gravity into the engine jacket 2 Vhen first placing the system in operation, the action described repeatsas fast as the tank 13 can fill and empty until the jackets 2 are filled to approximately the level a in Fig. 1. Thereafter, when the level in the acket 2 is loweredas by steam being gen- "eratedin the jacket, the corresponding level in the tank 13 also lowers to the same extent, thereby allowing the float 32 to recede and effect the throwing of; the valve 25 to place suction onthe tank 13 and thereby lift the required amount of liquid from the reservoir 8: to make up forthe loss by steam in the jacket 2. f When thishappens, the

tank 13 is again ventedandthe liquids so lifted allowed to flow to the jacket 2 to replenishthe liquids going oil in steam. This action repeats itself duringthe steaming of the system, and serves to maintain a sub and the level a lowered, as above described WVhen the tank 13 is filled, the level of the water is a i roximatel at Z; and. the

. i y a 1 float 32 then holds the plunger 28 above the fulcrum of the trigger 27. The spring 31 is thus allowed to exert its outwardpressure on the trigger ,to hold the valve 25 in position closing the suction port 19', shown in Fig. 2. The suction of the motor will also aid in holding the valve in this position. As .the tank 13 empties into the jackets 2,. the

float'32 does not immediately drop with the reeedingliquid level but is held, up by the tension, of the spring 31. When theliquid in the tank recedes to the approximate level indicated by c, then the weight of the float 32 is suilicient to overcome the tension of the spring 31, thereby drawing the plunger 28 down past the fulcrum ot the trigger. In this movement, the spring 31 is slightly compressed as theplunger28 passes the centen of the fulcrum and expands when below the fulcrum so as to effect the quick snap movement required to close the vent 20 by the valve 25 and open the vacuum port 19 for a refilling of the tank.

Tolimit the raising and lowering of the float 32, suitable steps 31, 35 may be em ployed either directly on the float or on the tank or between the trigger 27 and its plunge er 28, as shown in Fig. 2, The stops3 l, 35,

when on the trigger 27 as shown in Fig. 2, are immediately above and below-ithe respective maximum limits of the up and down movements of the plunger 28.

The pressure neutralizing fitting of my invention has a connection 20 to be connected to the port 20 of the vacuum tank 13. This connection opens intoa chamber 20 which through a slide valve 37 may be connected either. with a passageAO leading into the steam pipe 7 or. a passage 39 which opens directly into the atmosphere through a screen fitting at the outer end of this passage, as shown. The valve 37 is provided between its ends with-a surrounding groove 38, which is brought into register with either of the passages 39 or 40 when it is desired to connect either of them with the chamber 20". When the groove 38 registers with the passage 39, the vacuum tank will be vented to theatmosphere. On the other hand,fwhen the groove 38 is in register with the, passage 4:0,then the vacuum tank 13 will be opened to the steam line 7, and the pressure entire steam side of the system and in the tank will be the same so that no back pressure may develop in the condenser t to depress the water level a in the jacket 2 of the engine to resist the flow of liquids from the tank .13 to the jacket 2. This fitting is.

especially serviceable in connection with heavy duty tractors or motors where the engine is operating at its maximum and imparting a great volume of heat to its cooling liquids. Under such conditions any back pressure likely to form in the condenser will be neutralized in the vacuum tank 13 through the fitting described and have no effect on the flow of cooling liquids into the cylinder jackets to make up for those going off as steam.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a vapor cooling system for an internal'combustion engine having a jacket and a condenser connected therewith, a suction actuated means including a tank connected with the suction side of the engine so that liquids may be delivered from the system to the jacket through the tank under the influence of the engine suction thereon, and

conduit or passage connecting the top portion of the tank with the connection between the jacket and the condenser for neutralizing the pressures in the jacket and the tank,

respectively.

of the engine and with the lower end of the condenser, respectively, so asto supply cooling liquids to the jacket through the tank under the mfiuenee of the engine suctlon thereon, and a fitting interposed between the steam pipe and the vacuum tank and having valve controlled passages whereby said tank may be either vented to theatmosphere or opened to the steam pipe for neutralizing the pressures in the tank and on the steam side of the'system, respectively.

2. In a vapor cooling system for internal In testimony whereof I afiix my signature. V

LESTER P. BARLOW. 

